Joan Baez changes lyrics to classic song in support of Kamala Harris
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(Credits: Joan Baez)
Singer-songwriter Joan Baez has endorsed probable Democratic Party candidate, Kamala Harris, in the upcoming US election by adapting the lyrics to classic song, ‘America the Beautiful’.
The patriotic song was written by Katharine Lee Bates in 1895, and has been intertwined into American culture for over a 100 years. Over the decades, various iconic artists have performed the track, such as Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Ray Charles and Whitney Houston, but now Baez has put her own spin on ‘America the Beautiful’.
Notably, the track is already linked to the current Democratic administration as Jennifer Lopez performed ‘America the Beautiful’ during the inauguration of Joe Biden in 2021.
Baez, who has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump since he moved into the political sphere, has always used her voice to express her views. The singer-songwriter was a prominent supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, opposed the Vietnam War, and has also relentlessly helped the LGBT community.
However, it wasn’t until 2008 that Baez first dipped her toes into party politics when she endorsed Barack Obama. She later expressed her regrets over this public statement, telling the Huffington Post in 2013, “In some ways I’m disappointed, but in some ways it was silly to expect more. If he had taken his brilliance, his eloquence, his toughness and not run for office he could have led a movement. Once he got in the Oval Office he couldn’t do anything.”
Now, she’s endorsed Kamala Harris, which is likely fuelled by her thoughts on Donald Trump. In 2017, Baez released the song, ‘Nasty Man’, about the Republican politician, which marked the first track she had penned in 27 years. “”If we have a few things to thank that man for, they brought out creative juices in people who weren’t even creative before,” she told AXS TV of ‘Nasty Man’ following its release.
On her new version of ‘America the Beautiful’, Baez changed the lyrics from “Crown thy good with brotherhood” to “Crown thy good with sisterhood”, in support of Harris. The social media post was captioned: “Times are a-changin’… Let’s crown thy good good with sisterhood. Register to vote at vote.org or headcount.org and VOTE BLUE!”
Baez’s latest political statement arrives after the singer previously shared her fears about the current state of the United States during a conversation with The Los Angeles Times in 2023, which she blames on Trump.
“Nobody could’ve written the scenario of what’s happening now [post-Trump]. It’s deadly. It’s evil,” Baez said. “There’s no caring. It promotes the opposite of empathy. It promotes anger and belittling and bullying. On top of that, there’s climate change, which for me is the most heartbreaking.”
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